KDSN RADIO News
Iowa tap dancer makes his professional home state debut tonight
A southeast Iowa native who’s been dancing almost as long as he’s been able to walk is performing in central Iowa tonight as a veteran member of the Chicago Tap Theatre.
Isaac Stauffer grew up in Wayland, midway between Mount Pleasant and Washington, and first appeared on an Iowa State Fair stage at age six. He eventually won the Sprout division of the Bill Riley Talent Show, and then moved up to the 13-and-older bracket.
“You can perform until you’re age 21, so at age 17, I placed fifth, and when you win or place high, you have to sit out a year, so I had to take a year off,” Stauffer says. “Then I came back when I was 19 to try again and I placed second and I said, ‘Okay, I gotta sit out when I’m 20 but I’m gonna try and come back one more time when I’m 21,’ and the cards were in my favor — and I won the whole thing at age 21.”
Now in his seventh year with the Chicago-based troupe, Stauffer’s performance in Des Moines will be his professional debut in his home state, so he’s thrilled.
“Ever since moving to Chicago and joining Chicago Tap Theatre, I’ve been wanting to get the company to perform in Iowa,” he says. “But you know, there’s contracts and a lot of things that have to align for that to happen. And so I’ve been all around the country, I’ve toured internationally, but this one back in Iowa will really be something special.”
The University of Iowa graduate says this company fuses storytelling with a high-energy celebration of tap dance, with each show blending rhythm, creativity, and emotion.
“One of the things that makes us unique is we perform exclusively to live music,” Stauffer says. “It’s something that was always really important to the artistic director and founder, and it’s been true since the company’s inception. It’s one of the reasons I joined the company, actually, because I think it just brings such an additional layer to the performance that excites and engages both the dancers on stage and the audience.”
Dancing can be exceptionally hard on professional dancers, as they have to keep their bodies in peak shape, but at age 35, Stauffer says he still has a long, promising career ahead.
“If you think about most dancers, those in ballet, or maybe with a little more physically demanding art forms and dance styles, don’t quite last as long,” he says, “but I think tap dancers — people perform professionally as tap dancers into their 50s and 60s sometimes, so there’s no end in sight for me currently.”
Stauffer and the Chicago Tap Theatre are performing tonight at the Civic Center in Des Moines.
